I found a guy selling some really nice and cheap planks of brownheart on the internet.

I was so happy to finally find some affordable good looking exotic wood so I just bought 5 planks.
Later I did a search on the net to look up it characteristic, and it turns out thats i'ts critically endangered...

Is it illigal to use endangered woods?
What are your views on using endangered wood types?

I'm going to use the wood that i bought, but i'm not sure if i like to buy anymore..

Depending on the type and your location it can be illegal to buy, sell or harvest endangered species, but if you've already got it in hand I doubt use is criminalized.

My personal views are you should in no way, shape or form be seeking lumber front endangered species, because demand creates supply, and creating supply kills trees. You shouldn't be looking for it, you certainly shouldn't be purchasing it, no matter how good the deal is or how pretty it looks. All that's going to do is tell someone there's money in it.

That said, if the cats already out of the bag, nothing you can do about it now. Make a knife that justifies the tree

I use WoodCraft store for purchasing exotics and they do not purchase endangered trees so though you are in Denmark you can look at their website to see if the wood you are looking to buy is endangered. I have no idea what Brownheart wood is, many woods have more than one name and it's hard to determine what wood it is that you have. WoodCraft not only uses the common names for a particular species they also list the Latin name for it. Here is a link to their website Rasmus.

It could well be that the planks that he had were harvested before the any ban was passed. That would leave you ok if you are selling a knife handled in it within Denmark. However, if you try to ship it out of country you could run into problems. You could run into this problem with some of the Rosewood group.

Doug

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It's a beautiful hardwood and I saw that it's listed as endangered which would be why I have never seen it. I only buy from commercial sellers so I wouldn't have come across it. I am sure shipping from here to Denmark would be as expensive as buying from a shop in Denmark.

That link is very helpful, I wasn't aware that cocobolo was strictly regulated, but I know a guy in California that had hundreds if not thousands of board feet of it from the 1960s and he is a supplier to many stores, he has several old hoards of different types of wood. I went to his warehouse once in 2004 and he sold wood whenever he needed money. He also had many Medieval artifacts from all over Europe which is why I went there to deliver a 15th century lamp stand I had repaired. He had several swords and battle axes, quite impressive.

Keep your documentation/paperwork on the purchase - or make and keep copies if e-commerce. May never need it but goes a long way to show "no harm intent" if questioned by some official. This is a must with ivory and appears to be getting that way with several endangered wood species as well. Most old cut material is exempted if proper documentation is available.

Sorry for the late comment here. If I read the link correctly, this is a wood that's generally used for exterior construction? I wouldn't know much about Denmark policy, but apparently this wood is not cites listed. I think that generally is considered a good benchmark on whether an item should be harvested, bought, sold or used.

Another thought about purchasing any exotic wood might be to know it well to avoid getting stuck with a similar looking fake. I'd think use it responsibly without any regret.